History TearJerker / Mother

* The first Chapter doesn't pull any punches -- midway through, you learn of Hinawa's offscreen death. The music cuts out to add weight to the grim situation, and Flint doesn't take the news well at all. Although he has no dialogue for this part, his body language and actions, even for a small GBA sprite, effectively communicates his anguish.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/e8c84551_8028_49f1_a38c_094753d9eb79.jpeg]] [[caption-width-right:350: Claus and Hinawa, TogetherInDeath]]

* Another small one, [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/406px-Lucas_2_0_by_FlintofMother3_5618.jpg the expression on clay figure of Lucas's face]] captures the feeling of sadness and timidness very well.

** Once you persevere and reach the end of the fight, the theme changes to ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-EKQp4Hedk It is Finished]]''. Initially sounding like a horrifyingly-mechanised version of the Love Theme, it eventually dissolves into a quiet and somber rendition of the same piece played by a full orchestra as the theme proceeds, before eventually quietening again, leaving just an electric piano left. The theme is perfectly designed to represent Masked Man's realization of who he really is, and it's almost guaranteed to turn on the waterworks for those who listen to it.

* A small one that's quite overlooked, but once Ionia disappears, Kumatora walks over to where she was standing and looks around for a moment before looking down, visibly upset. Considering that she was raised by the Magypsies after losing her real parents when she was a baby, Kumatora ends losing her parental figures once more. It sticks out as the one moment where we see Kumatora sad, brief as it was.

** Take his appearance and backstory from ''[=EarthBound=] Beginnings'' into account. The entire series happened because of the horrifying choice Giygas was forced to make: his race or his parental figures' race and family. Giygas's rational mind, which was perfectly seen in ''[=EarthBound=] Beginnings'' when he called off the attack because of the love he felt for Maria, is completely gone because of the trauma he received and the evil power he absorbed.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/e8c84551_8028_49f1_a38c_094753d9eb79.jpeg]] [[caption-width-right:350: Claus and Hinawa- TogetherInDeath]]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/e8c84551_8028_49f1_a38c_094753d9eb79.jpeg]]

** One of the Claus hallucinations asks Lucas to switch places with him. Remember at this point in the story, Claus is believed to be dead. [[spoiler:Lucas wishes he had died instead of Claus.]]

* The Eight Melodies. No matter how it's covered, be it 8-bit, rock, or orchestral, it expertly conveys the sense of childhood adventure. It subtly invokes fear, innocence, heartbreak, and hope, all at once. There's a reason so many professional covers exist.
* The idea of the Eight Melodies in the game in general. Think about it; A childhood antique doll that used to be played with many times, a mother and a child bird separated by humans who didn't know any better, a monkey who's caged and locked up in a zoo, a dusty old piano that plays on its own in a long abandoned building, a lone cactus in an empty desert where a war happened and exterminated the rest of its friends, a dragon who's been sleeping away its life, a robot companion who defends you from everything, and lastly, the tombstone of your dead and loving great-grandfather who built the robot companion knowing that you might need it someday.
** Or if you're playing the original Famicom version, the eighth melody comes from Queen Mary herself, who turns out to be your great-grandmother, Maria. The woman who spent her life trying to remember the Eight Melodies dies in peace when she can complete the song and sing it on her own.
** Try reading the above in one go without getting tears in your eyes.
* Queen Mary's final scene. Her story in general is tearjerking.
--> ''"Oh! Giygas! I loved him... I loved him, as if he was my own child... He was always wagging his tail... just like a pup... except for when I tried to sing him lullabies... Ahhh, George! [[TheReveal This is your wife, Maria.]] [[TogetherInDeath I'm coming to join you, my purpose is complete...]]"''
* Teddy's fate at the hands of R7038. He gets better. (At least in the English version and the {{UsefulNotes/GBA}} remake.)
** Speaking of which, the song that plays at his death bed is a heart wrenching remix of [[RecurringRiff Pollyanna]]. When you consider the lyrics and Teddy's supposed final words, it's easy to how some view it as the saddest part of the game.
* Around the middle of the game, your party is taken to Easter (Youngtown in the English version), a town in which all the adults living there were kidnapped by Giygas, leaving all the children alone. [[IMissMom Some of them take it better than others]]. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQqipQvtz7w The haunting, somber background music]] only worsens the situation.
* EVE's death. The game itself doesn't make much of it, but most of the fans take it really hard. Just think about it: EVE was built by George, Ninten's late great-grandfather, specifically to protect Ninten and his friends, which she manages to do... at the cost of her own life.
* Giygas is a pretty [[TragicMonster tragic villain]]. It's clear that he was torn apart by his ParentalAbandonment and conflicting loyalties.
--> ''"Stop... Pleeease, stop!"''
----

** This [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0b1bKJnGegU 8 Melodies video]] sums up the two above examples of just how tragic a character Giygas really is.

* A meta example: The late former CEO, Global President of Nintendo, programmer, and gaming legend Creator/SatoruIwata contributed to [=EarthBound=] by reprogramming the entire game from scratch so it would be saved from cancellation. If it wasn't for him, the franchise would have ended prematurely... which Mr. Iwata did in 2015.

!!''MOTHER 3''/''[=EarthBound=] 2''

* ''MOTHER 3'' in general — starting with Hinawa's death and Flint's subsequent breakdown in Chapter 1, the entirety of Chapter 6 where Lucas chases his mother's ghost through a field of sunflowers. This game wasn't tagged "strange, funny and heartrending" for nothing, you know.

** The final boss fight was probably the biggest example here. You find out that the Masked Man is Claus, your brother who you haven't seen in three years. Then when he tries to use PK Love Omega, Flint jumps in front of Lucas to save him. Then when Lucas is about to give up, Hinawa's ghost comes back and convinces them to stop fighting. We see a flashback to when Lucas and Claus were babies and Hinawa was still alive. After realizing who he is, Claus kills himself to be with his mother. It also doesn't help the Love Theme is playing the whole time, which is a sad song on its own.
---> ''"Claus... Claus... Claus... Come to your mother... You must be so exhausted... Come here, Claus."''
** The more you think the worse this fight gets. Anyone else realize that "Claus" and "Lucas" are anagrams?
** At the beginning of the fight Lucas can only heal to keep himself alive, unable to bring himself to attack Claus. [[BerserkerTears After Flint is struck down, however...]]
* There is a long, straight hallway towards the end of the game, featuring nothing but a tile floor, a red carpet, and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIhO1dYJHsw this music]].

** During the destruction of the Nowhere Islands that plays following Lucas pulling the final needle, it's hard not to feel bad for the Chimeras - despite their modified nature, they're just like any other animal in terms of mentality, and you get to see them panic as the whole world goes to hell around them.
* Realizing Fassad was Locria, the seventh Magypsy. On one of the floors in the Empire Porky Building, there is a Magypsy's shell house. Inside there are crates and presents of bananas, banana peels litter the floor, a Magypsy's memento (a Razor and Lipstick), familiar looking horns on the table, and a Magypsy's bed, where laid out on it is Fassad's clothing. Finally, when you reach the entrance of the next elevator, there is a lone mouse. What he says will make you can't help but feel sympathy for Porky's first lackey throughout half the game.
-->''"I don't think Locria is coming back anymore. Oh, me? I'm a mouse Locria liked to dote over. He had a creepy "Nwehehehehe" laugh, so he might've seemed like a mean person in most people's eyes, but he was very nice to me at least. Do you think he'll be coming home soon? I'm so lonely."''
* In ''VideoGame/EarthBound'', two sesame seeds- one white, one black- can be found in desert. They're each only one pixel big, and if you talk to them, they'll ask you to help them find each-other, because they're in love. The sesame seeds cannot be interacted with beyond this, and they're on completely opposite sides of the desert. Twelve years later, ''MOTHER 3'' came out. In the last chapter of the game, you can find a single black pixel and a single white pixel sitting on a stand, side-by-side.
* The fight with Mecha Drago. Even though it ''did'' kill Hinawa, fighting it feels more like a MercyKill than a real battle, since it's been made mechanic against its will and due to the boss music also carrying some tragic notes. Then, after the Drago is defeated, it sheds a single tear and dies in front of its little child. It's an almost perfect parallel of what happened to Hinawa, as pointed out by Alec when Flint goes for the final blow:
-->'''Alec''': Flint! Don't do it! That won't solve anything! You'll only make its child go through what Claus and Lucas had to!
** Flint's feelings are also to be considered here; he's facing the creature that killed his wife, willingly or not, and ''he wants revenge''.
* The end of Chapter 4, in which DCMC bid farewell to Lucky, aka Duster.
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmobfd3hiUk Bon voyage, amigo...]]

* The movie theater. It's not just that Porky wants to show off Ness's adventures in his movie theater. It's that he had to have actually taken the time and effort to have them properly filmed.
* The [=DCMC=] concert at the Empire Porky Building. Knowing that the world might end, they decide to hold one last concert to rally everyone's hopes.

--> ''"Hey other world, be good to our friend!"''
* We could flood the page with links, but instead, we'll just put it simply: This game's [[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic utterly magnificent]] soundtrack is a ''huge'' reason as to why it's so sad.
* A small one that's quite overlooked, but once Ionia disappears, Kumatora walks over to where she was standing and looks around for a moment before looking down, visibly upset. Considering that she was raised by the Magypsies after losing her real parents when she was a baby, Kumatora ends losing her parental figures once more. It sticks out as the one moment where we see Kumatora sad, brief as it was.

* The return to Tazmily near the end of Chapter 7. Seeing the little village where Lucas grew up nearly empty and everybody talking about going to New Pork City, as well as [[https://youtu.be/Dt46T9dkkZI the music]] playing in the background give off the feeling that this is the end of Tazmily.
* ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-EKQp4Hedk It is Finished]]'', the theme which plays towards the ending of the final battle with Claus. Initially sounding like a horrifyingly-mechanised version of the Love Theme, it eventually dissolves into a quiet and somber rendition of the same piece played by a full orchestra as the theme proceeds, before eventually quietening again, leaving just an electric piano left. The theme is perfectly designed to represent Masked Man's realisation of who he really is, and it's almost guaranteed to turn on the waterworks for those who listen to it.
* If you've played both previous games, the credits really hit home. It starts out with the Love theme before playing the starts of two familiar songs. They're the Eight Melodies from the first two games, and both soon play in succession. After both are done, a triumphant rendition of the Love Theme plays. The series is over, and as a reward for sticking around, you get all three main themes in one beautiful package as a farewell, dubbed ''16 Melodies''.

* The ending after the Dragon is raised and we watch the world destroyed, the player gets to walk around as, presumably, themselves, listening to the people of the MOTHER 3 world thanking YOU, the player, for all your help, and asking you how you are doing in your world, or if the world you are in is treating you well.

--> ''"Claus... Claus... Claus... Come to your mother... You must be so exhausted... Come here, Claus."''

** At the beginning of the fight Lucas can only heal to keep himself alive, unable to bring himself to attack Claus. [[{{BerserkerTears}} After Flint is struck down, however...]]

*** And now, with the real-life passing of Creator/SatoruIwata, those three little words are made even sadder.

--> ''"Oh! Giygas! I loved him... I loved him, as if he was my own child... He was always wagging his tail... just like a pup... except for when I tried to sing him lullabies... Ahhh, George! [[TheReveal This is your wife, Maria.]] [[TogetherInDeath I'm coming to join you, my purpose is complete..."''

'''SPOILERS AHEAD'''

** Or if you're playing the original Famicom version, the eighth melody comes from [[spoiler:Queen Mary herself, who turns out to be your great-grandmother, Maria. The woman who spent her life trying to remember the Eight Melodies dies in peace when she can complete the song and sing it on her own.]]

--> ''[[spoiler:"Oh! Giygas! I loved him... I loved him, as if he was my own child... He was always wagging his tail... just like a pup... except for when I tried to sing him lullabies... Ahhh, George! [[TheReveal This is your wife, Maria.]] [[TogetherInDeath I'm coming to join you,]] my purpose is complete..."]]''
* Teddy's fate at the hands of R7038. [[spoiler: He gets better. (At least in the English version and the {{UsefulNotes/GBA}} remake.)]]
** Speaking of which, the song that plays [[spoiler: at his death bed]] is a heart wrenching remix of [[spoiler: [[RecurringRiff Pollyanna]]. When you consider the lyrics and Teddy's supposed final words, it's easy to how some view it as the saddest part of the game.]]

* [[spoiler: EVE's death]]. The game itself doesn't make much of it, but most of the fans take it really hard. Just think about it: [[spoiler: EVE was built by George, Ninten's late great-grandfather, specifically to protect Ninten and his friends, which she manages to do... at the cost of her own life]].
* [[spoiler: Giygas]] is a pretty [[TragicMonster tragic villain]]. It's clear that he was torn apart by his [[spoiler: ParentalAbandonment and conflicting loyalties.]]

* [[spoiler: Paula praying to friends and families during the final battle against Giygas.]]

*** Hearing [[spoiler: "I miss you"]] at the end credits.

* ''MOTHER 3'' in general — starting with [[spoiler:Hinawa's death and Flint's subsequent breakdown in Chapter 1, the entirety of Chapter 6 where Lucas chases his mother's ghost through a field of sunflowers. This game wasn't tagged "strange, funny and heartrending" for nothing, you know.]]
** What makes [[spoiler: Hinawa's death all the more heartrending is that at the start of the game you can]] ''[[spoiler: rename]]'' [[spoiler: her.]] Shigesato Itoi employed this mechanic figuring that players unaware of the oncoming tragedy would [[spoiler: name her after]] ''[[spoiler: their own mothers,]]'' which a lot of them probably did. That is emotional manipulation of the best kind.
** The final boss fight was probably the biggest example here. [[spoiler: You find out that the Masked Man is Claus, your brother who you haven't seen in three years. Then when he tries to use PK Love Omega, Flint jumps in front of Lucas to save him. Then when Lucas is about to give up, Hinawa's ghost comes back and convinces them to stop fighting. We see a flashback to when Lucas and Claus were babies and Hinawa was still alive. After realizing who he is, Claus kills himself to be with his mother. It also doesn't help the Love Theme is playing the whole time, which is a sad song on its own.]]
--> ''[[spoiler: "Claus... Claus... Claus... Come to your mother... You must be so exhausted... Come here, Claus."]]''
** The more you think the worse this fight gets. [[spoiler:Anyone else realize that "Claus" and "Lucas" are anagrams?]]
** [[spoiler:At the beginning of the fight Lucas can only heal to keep himself alive, unable to bring himself to attack Claus. [[{{BerserkerTears}} After Flint is struck down, however...]]]]

** During the [[spoiler:destruction of the Nowhere Islands]] that plays [[spoiler:following Lucas pulling the final needle]], it's hard not to feel bad for the Chimeras - despite their modified nature, they're just like any other animal in terms of mentality, and you get to see them panic as the whole world goes to hell around them.
* Realizing [[spoiler: Fassad was Locria, the seventh Magypsy.]] On one of the floors in the Empire Porky Building, [[spoiler: there is a Magypsy's shell house. Inside there are crates and presents of bananas, banana peels litter the floor, a Magypsy's memento (a Razor and Lipstick), familiar looking horns on the table, and a Magypsy's bed, where laid out on it is Fassad's clothing.]] Finally, when you reach the entrance of the next elevator, [[spoiler: there is a lone mouse. What he says will make you can't help but feel sympathy for Porky's first lackey throughout half the game.]]
-->''[[spoiler: "I don't think Locria is coming back anymore. Oh, me? I'm a mouse Locria liked to dote over. He had a creepy "Nwehehehehe" laugh, so he might've seemed like a mean person in most people's eyes, but he was very nice to me at least. Do you think he'll be coming home soon? I'm so lonely."]]''
* In ''VideoGame/EarthBound'', two sesame seeds- one white, one black- can be found in desert. They're each only one pixel big, and if you talk to them, they'll ask you to help them find each-other, because they're in love. The sesame seeds cannot be interacted with beyond this, and they're on completely opposite sides of the desert. Twelve years later, ''MOTHER 3'' came out. In the last chapter of the game, [[spoiler:you can find a single black pixel and a single white pixel sitting on a stand, side-by-side]].

-->[[spoiler:'''Claus Hallucination''']]: Everyone's waiting for you. Everyone's waiting to throw rocks at you, spit on you, and make your life hell. Who's "everyone"...? Everyone you love.
* The movie theater. It's not just that [[spoiler:Porky wants to show off Ness's adventures in his movie theater. It's that he had to have actually taken the time and effort to have them properly filmed.]]

* [[spoiler: Leder's InfoDump. When you come upon the realization that you're essentially on untouched utopia, created so the lives on it were to be the happiest, truly perfect ones- and it was all corrupted in a moment by Porky and his happy boxes? Bring on the crippling depression and a virtually nonexistent will to go on. Until you realize you do have something to fight for- a reset button. Or, at least, what ''might'' be a reset button, if [[{{Irony}}the Masked Man isn't truly corrupt.]]]]
* Reggie's quote- "''We can forget happy things. We can probably forget sad things too. People have the power to forget."'' The people of Tazmily [[spoiler:had all forgotten their previous lives, driven to destruction by society and technology. They exist on a perfect place of harmony and happiness. Claus had forgotten who he was, forced or not. Porky has forgotten kindness and love, and Flint refused to accept his wife's sacrifice. Lucas seemed to be stuck in this stagnant form of grieving for the entire game, never dwindling on his happy memories. It's especially apparent when he looks into the mirror later in the game, the one he looked into in the beginning. Hinawa's reminders to Lucas become all the more powerful, along with the Magypsies' messages. Tazmily Village quickly forgot their peaceful ways to usher in a newer, modern age, completely accepting it and transforming Tazmily, even going so far as to shove the elderly into a decrepit home and abandon their hometown for the city.]] People have the power to forget. To move on. And it's not always, necessarily, for the better.
* [[spoiler:The ending after the Dragon is raised and we watch the world destroyed, the player gets to walk around as, presumably, themselves, listening to the people of the MOTHER 3 world thanking YOU, the player, for all your help, and asking you how you are doing in your world, or if the world you are in is treating you well.]]
--> [[spoiler:''"Hey other world, be good to our friend!"'']]

* A small one that's quite overlooked, but [[spoiler: once Ionia disappears, Kumatora walks over to where she was standing and looks around for a moment before looking down, visibly upset. Considering that she was raised by the Magypsies after losing her real parents when she was a baby, Kumatora ends losing her parental figures once more. It sticks out as the one moment where we see Kumatora sad, brief as it was.]]

* The return to Tazmily near the end of Chapter 7. [[spoiler:Seeing the little village where Lucas grew up nearly empty and everybody talking about going to New Pork City, as well as [[https://youtu.be/Dt46T9dkkZI the music]] playing in the background give off the feeling that this is the end of Tazmily.]]
* ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-EKQp4Hedk It is Finished]]'', the theme which plays towards the ending of the final battle with [[spoiler:Claus]]. Initially sounding like a horrifyingly-mechanised version of the Love Theme, it eventually dissolves into a quiet and somber rendition of the same piece played by a full orchestra as the theme proceeds, before eventually quietening again, leaving just an electric piano left. The theme is perfectly designed to represent Masked Man's realisation of who he really is, and it's almost guaranteed to turn on the waterworks for those who listen to it.

* We could flood the page with links, but instead, we'll just put it simply: This game's [[AwesomeMusic utterly magnificent]] soundtrack is a ''huge'' reason as to why it's so sad.

* If you've played both previous games, the credits really hit home. It starts out with the Love theme before playing the starts of two familiar songs. They're the Eight Melodies from the first two games, and both soon play in succession. After both are done, a triumphant rendition of the Love Theme plays. The series is over, and as a reward for sticking around, you get all three main themes in one beautiful package as a farewell.

-->''No crying until the end.''

[-Alright, you can cry now.-]

-->[[spoiler:'''Claus Hallucination''']]: Everyone's here, Lucas. Everyone's waiting to spit on you, throw rocks at you, and make your life hell. Who's "Everyone"? ... Everyone you love.